Chinese films

Thin ice

Kudos for Chinese film-makers

ON FEBRUARY 15th “Black Coal, Thin Ice”, a film by Diao Yinan, a little-known Chinese director, won the Golden Bear award for best film at the 64th Berlin Film Festival. The movie also won the best-actor award. Another Chinese film, “Blind Massage”, won for best cinematography. Chinese directors and officials were ecstatic. Zhou Tiedong of China Film Promotion International, a government body, anointed the coming years “the China decade”.

In terms of box-office income he may be right—China is now the world’s second-largest market—but the appeal of Chinese films abroad has been limited. And those that do succeed there are often banned at home.

Mr Diao is hopeful his film can do the improbable: thrill viewers at home and abroad, pass Chinese censors and stay true to his artistic vision. It is set in the bleak northeastern province of Heilongjiang. The opening scenes depict dismembered body parts tumbling along a coal chute. Although it is not overtly political, the film does present a dark portrait of China. Mr Diao says that shots of gambling dens and sprawling factories with expendable people show the absurdity of modern life. A review by the Hollywood Reporter, a newspaper, says it is a salute to classic film noir, calling one scene “Hitchcockian”.

The exploration of dark themes did not seem to bother the censors. Mr Diao says he has seen the approval certificate and that the film should open in China within months. Believe it when the curtain goes up.